1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a method for treating peripheral vascular diseases.
2. Discussion of the Background:
The most important problem in the treatment of obstructive vascular disease is to make the energy supply adequate to the metabolic demand in the hypoxic area. In peripheral vascular disease, this goal has been sought only by interventions aimed at increasing the blood flow to the ischemic muscle.
Vasodilators are the most often used drugs in the therapy of chronic obstructive vascular disease, although their efficacy is far from being proved (see J. D. Coffmann, et al., Ann. Intern. Med., 76, 35 (1972); and V. Hansteen, et al., Acta Med. Scand. [Suppl.], 556, 3 (1974)). Much more effective seem to be drugs capable of reducing blood viscosity. Among these, pentoxifylline has been demonstrated to increase walking distance (see G. Brevetti, et al., Il Progresso Medico, 35, 363 (1979); and J. M. Porter, et al., Am. Heart J., 104, 66 (1982)) as a result of increased blood flow and enhanced tissue oxygenation in the affected limb (see G. Brevetti, et al., in Adaptability of Vascular Wall, Z. Reims, et al., eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1980, p. 555; and A. M. Ehrly, J. Med., 10, 331 (1979)). Other reports, however, failed to demonstrate any objective benefit (see A. Mashiah, et al., Br. J. Surg., 65, 342 (1978)).
Thus, there remains a need for a method to treat obstructive peripheral vascular diseases, such intermittent claudication.